Losing Now

• I always get the weight lecture, now down to a look.
• I always seem to be told to do exactly what I thought I should do to get better.
• I am a hypochondriac and fear the doctor finding nothing wrong with me.
• I have a low pain threshold.
• Last but not least, I am a guy.

Last week I ate too much on both Tuesday and Wednesday with way too many carbs going into my system. I also missed all of my meds on those two days. I woke Thursday feeling like I drank a 12 pack of Bud. My speech was slurring and my mouth was heavy. At work the feeling gets worse and I call my wife. We agree that I need to go home and check my blood glucose levels. I didn’t have my tester with me because I am bad about using it.

I get home and my blood glucose is pushing 500. Only thing for me to do was to go to bed and sleep it off. I didn’t get back to feeling right until Saturday night. Now it is Monday and I am told that the symptoms I was describing along with the blood glucose level indicated that I may have been going into diabetic shock. That is a life threatening situation.

The bottom line is that you need to call your doctor if that happens to you. I can’t wait to lose this weight and say good by to diabetes II symptoms.

The ache in my quads and glutes brings me back to my sophomore year in high school.  Gym consisted of an elected weight-training course.  I was not athletic and never lifted weights before.  The day after my first day I could not bend my arms.  Yes, I was in pain all over, but what scared me was that I could not bend my arms.   I swore to my mother that something was wrong…. Maybe I was paralyzed.   I had heard about people lifting too much and hurting themselves.   Man, to look back at those naïve days today.

Mom forced me to go to school and helped me get my shirt on that morning.  I go to talk to the teacher and he told me to move closer to him.  Quickly he bent both of my arms at the elbow for me.   Agony, but I could bend them again.

I can bend at my knees without the help of coach….. can’t remember his name. The joy of feeling my muscles growing is a feeling too long forgotten.

I am a guy. That means that I love gadgets and trying the next big thing. When it came to weight-loss it meant that I would try every new-fangled piece of equipment or pill that said it would help. Yeah, that Health Rider was a pure waste of money. If you have read through my blog you know that I have given this fools game up. Fighting hard against my natural inclination I have moved to simplicity and natural-non-processed life. I am not 100% but am doing a pretty good job.

So when I saw this thread, link here, on the bodybuilding.com forum titled hands down, the best fat burner ever… yerba mate’. My eyebrow went up and my skepticism kicked in. I read through this long, long thread and decided to give Yerba Mate a shot. Read the rest of this entry »

Book Review  The Biggest Loser The Weight-Loss Program to Transform Your Body, Health and Life

I purchased this ‘book’ from the bargain bin on Amazon.  There was a friend of mine that wanted to follow the program as laid out by the book and wanted me to follow.  It was cheap so what the heck.

The book is very short and the food/exercise plan really has nothing to do with the show.  The show is actually fat camp on tv…but I digress.  If you wish to purchase a book to follow the lives of the Biggest Loser and get their tips this has some of that.  Not a lot of that, but some.  If you are looking for a great weight-loss system, well just read more.

Here is the system presented by the book in my own words.  Count calories, eat 7 X your body weight in calories, eat fruits and veggies, protein, and low complex carbs, do cardio and strength training exercises.  Let me see, did I miss anything?  Nope, I think I got it all in there.

To be fair I am using their strength training routine and found a good understanding of the need to be comfortable in my own skin before succeeding in weight-loss.  The strength training routine is simply a strength circuit workout.  It was worth my 3 bucks, but I would not spend more on it.

I have been reading or skimming through the ‘Biggest Loser Weight Loss’ book and have found nothing really new or earth shattering.  It is nice to read about the contestants for motivation.  But there was one item that I think is insightful and bears repeating.

To succeed at major weight loss and body transformation it is imperative to be comfortable in your own skin.  Too many people in the western society hate themselves.  The poor body image is the term we use today.  I must admit that I fall into, or did fall into the self body loather.  I mean, why should I like anything about a body that needs to lose 151 pounds?

 I need to like my body for what it is for two reasons.  First, you can’t fix up something that you think of as worthless.  If it was a house you would rebuild.  If it was a car you would go out and buy a new one.  If it is your body you basically wait for death and hide the body from the world until the casket closes.   If you find things in your current body that you like you, will be motivated to improve it, to make it better.  A person inheriting an old family home on a plot overlooking the ocean will see value in an old dilapidated structure.  It just needs a coat of paint and some repairs.  Have you ever seen a man that loves cars purchase an old GTO?  The thing will be rusted out and not run.  The man’s wife will nag to get that thing out of the driveway, but the man hangs on and works on it.  Slowly the man knows that that GTO will be the envy of all around. Our bodies are like that GTO, or must be for us to succeed.  You must see the worth in yourself.  You must know that it is a loss to the world if you don’t get your body up and running.  Seeing your value and your body’s value is the only thing that will work. Second, you can not solely look at the end result of your weight loss as the prize.  Losing 151 pounds for me will take a couple of years, and building up muscle to look great will take a couple of years longer than that.  If I can not be happy with my body all through this journey I will fail because the journey is too long.   It will be impossible for us to see the joys of losing 5 pounds, much less 1 pound.   With this much weight to lose there will be far more 1 and 3 pound loss weeks than there will be 50 pounds, 100 pounds, and 151 pound loss weeks.  If you can’t accept yourself and find worth in yourself now I think you should just give up the effort and try another time.  Being comfortable in your own skin is this important to succeed.

Every time a person says something negative, or that you take as negative about your body you must tell yourself 2 things positive to combat that.  Every time that subconscious little voice in your head says that you aren’t worth the effort and that it is better to give up, you must consciously reply with 3 things that you like about yourself that makes you worth this great effort.

Remember that being prepared is a big key to succeeding also so make a list of things you like about yourself.  Try to find 5 things that you like about your physical body and 5 things you like about your self as a person.  Try to add to this list every day.  Then, use this list to combat the negative thoughts and comments you receive throughout the day, 2 positive for 1 external negative, and 3 positive for 1 internal negative.

I will start my list here as an example.  You will see that some things in the list will seem petty to others, but are a big deal to me.

Positive Body

1. I am tall
2. I have great eyes
3. I have gentle hands
4. I have a strong body frame
5. I have small ears

Positive Self

1. I am empathetic of others
2. I am smart
3. I work hard even through challenges
4. I am loved by my family
5. I am kind and giving to others
6. I am not bound to money one way or the other

So make your own list.  Write it down and put it in your wallet.  There will be times when you can’t think of one of those items because you feel so negative about yourself.  When those times come, take out the list and read it all to yourself.  Finally, add to this list.  Make a conscious effort to build the list, not from what others say, but from what you say. 

Good luck and God Bless

The onslaught of birthdays has past and I can get my mind right once again.  I just want to say happy birthday to my wife.

I mentioned before that I suffer from depression.  Like many, I take medication to control my depressive bouts.  After losing 20 pounds I began having problems with my depression.  I don’t know if the problems were do to the weight loss or what I was eating, but it got pretty out of hand.  I went to see the doc and he prescribed some different medication and hopefully this will help. Read the rest of this entry »

July 4th is the celebrated day of independence for America, and it is the date of my mother’s birth.  This 4th is the first she is not here to celebrate.

My mother lived a good life, hard, but good.  She was born just a bit early for her personality.  She was very strong willed and outgoing.  Brash and street smart she took over most every situation she entered.   When my father died a part of my mother left with him.  Now she is whole again because she is again with him.  Now that she is gone I realize how little time I spent with her.

If you read this today and your mother is still with you, please give her a hug or a call.  Tell your mother how much she has meant in your life.  If you are estranged from your mother for whatever reason, let her know that beyond those reasons is a love and gratitude for your life and her sacrifices.

Will I break 350 before my birthday on the 10^th?  Not if I keep blowing it like I did last night.

I have stated before that you must consistently feed the engine or bad things will happen.  Well, I missed all meals prior to going home yesterday at 5 pm.  Food….Dave wants food now!  No, I did not say that as I slogged my way through my door, but I was thinking it.  There was no energy in my body and I was not really with it mentally.  Okay, I am seldom with it mentally.  Into the couch my blob body dropped.

My wife was out grocery shopping and there was little in the house to eat.  Apparently my wife went out for pizza and brought home 4 small square pieces back home…insert vacuum cleaner sound here…   That pizza never knew what ate it.  The refrigerator door was opened and I began the rummage search….nothing.   I grabbed two apples and snarfed them down.  Still I was hungry.  My wife comes home and I spy ice cream in the bag.  No time left to help her put the food away as I emptied a big chunk of the ice cream into a bowl and ate it.   My hunger was now satisfied, but my craving for junk was enticed.  There is no time for my wife to cook anyway as it is late….almost 5:30, and there is a movie on the TV I want to watch with her.  I make the command decision for Chinese take-out. 

Don’t let this happen to you.  Eat your meals through the day.  I would go so far to say eat a small bit of bad-for-you food if there is nothing else available.  The journey is back on track today, but there was caloric damage done and a workout missed.  When will I learn?  I hope I did today.

Ben, or bdinger as I know him on the Bike Forums, is a big guy at 360 pounds. He has not reached his goal weight, has all of his limbs, and did not overcome a terrible disease. He has done none of the things that typically qualify a person for my Overcame selection. What he has done is lived life strong and entered a mountain bike race. You can read his tale of challenge and how he overcame that challenge at http://optifat.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-always-win.html

I ride a bicycle on pavement and bike paths, pushing the bike up many of the hills. It is hard on me at this stage of the game. Ben is stronger, and has been riding longer than I have, but more importantly, he does not quit….EVER. First he put his person on display in a mountain bike race, not a ride. He was competing against fit, competitive men, women, and teenagers. That is more courage than I can muster.

During the race he crashed, mangling his front tire and brakes. Ben freely admits that he started feeling sorry for himself. He thought about quitting. Then, wounded and exhausted, Ben does his best to fix his bike and finishes the race. He overcame in so many ways.

Low Carb diets are all the rage and for good reason, they work.  It has been proven over and over that they work.  Atkins, South Beach, Kimkins, and the list goes on have all had many people lose a great deal of weight quickly following their principles.  Knowing all of this I state here and now that I will not go Low Carb. Read the rest of this entry »